Wednesday beat Wycombe at Hillsborough
Sheffield Wednesday recorded their fifth home win in succession on Tuesday evening as they deservedly ran out 2-0 winners against bottom of the table Wycombe Wanderers at a snowy Hillsborough stadium.
Wednesday needed to bounce back from a 4-1 defeat at Millwall at the weekend and after a fairly even first ten minutes the Owls went on to dominate much of the first half. Neil Thompson made four changes to his starting eleven with Urhoghide, Shaw, Harris and Rhodes coming in. Harris enjoyed a particularly impressive first half, proving to be a constant threat down the Owls right that Wycombe struggled to contain.
Bannan saw a strike deflected off target before instigating a fine move from inside his own half on 20 minutes which saw Shaw set Reach free on the left and his cut back was met first time by Paterson 20 yards out, producing a flying save from Allsop in the Wycombe goal.
A rare break from the visitors brought a penalty appeal that was waved away when Harris raced back to challenge Mehmeti and see the ball behind for a corner. At the other end Harris crossed to the back post for Shaw to head across goal and the clearance was volleyed back with interest by Reach but was cleared near the goal line with the keeper beaten.
The breakthrough finally came on 34 minutes, Harris once again working space for a cross which picked out Rhodes who placed a deft header past Allsop for 1-0.
The second half saw Wycombe manage to do a better job of containing Reach and Harris on both wings but Wednesday were still the better side. Allsop saved from Bannan who then found Shaw from a free kick but the youngster couldn’t steer his header on target.
The visitors rarely threatened and the Owls got the cushion they were looking for with 14 minutes to go. Harris cut inside but saw a low shot blocked in a packed penalty area, the rebound fell to Reach on the edge of the box and his sweet volley looked like it might be on target to finish in one corner of the goal before a huge deflection sent it into the opposite side of the goal.
The win, Neil Thompson’s fifth from seven league games since taking temporary charge, sees Wednesday move up to 21st place in the Championship ahead of a tough home game against Swansea on Saturday followed by a trip to Stoke City next week.